I didn't really get much work done last weekend. I had good intentions but a Cajun friend came up from Louisianna and so Friday night I went over to where he was staying. Had dinner and then got in the pool to play drunken water volleyball. We had a Sponge Bob ball and a Dora the Explorer ball. I was asking which one to use and Kenny said, "Use Dora, she's tighter than Sponge Bob!" He just sat there looking confused when we all broke down laughing. Yeah, OK, we're crude.

Saturday saw me running around getting supplies for people to cook with. Some long grain rice for Tobey. A couple zuccinis for Rob. Cigarettes for some nicotine addict in the crowd. I needed brown sugar and yellow cake mix for the pineapple upside down cake I did in my Dutch Oven. Tobey was making Sauce Piquant with venison which he had made for us before. As with whenever we all cook, people just started showing up and bringing food. Pretty soon we had a feast and about 20 people. Later it got down to just bullshit and beer but it was a good time.

Sunday I again meant to mow but Rob called to go fishing. That pretty much killed the desire to mow all day. We hit his late Uncle Nolan's pond where I caught the first fish, the biggest fish and the most fish. 4 lb Largemouth bass was the largest. In all we caught 24 bass and bluegill. Fileted they made 6 pounds of fish. When I got home around 1 pm, I went out to check the grapes on my vines. Look what happened in just a couple weeks:

I picked a large bowl full and started in to juicing them.

I got over a gallon of juice which will go for jelly and maybe some wine. Just look at that color.

The Elberta Peaches are all gone now. Birds got the last of them. But the native white peaches are starting to be ripe and I picked about a half bushel and juiced them as well. I also juiced strawberries I picked in the Spring and froze and some wine grapes that I vacuum sealed last year. So this weekend will be a jelly making weekend again.

Something I love about a Sunday afternoon at the farm is having all the windows open and the breeze blowing the lace curtains around. Makes me all nostalgic.

I saw this critter in my landscaping. It refused to be rescued. One of the more unusual moths I've seen in a long time.

Tomorrow we'll be heading down by car because I want to hit the butcher and Natural Foods store in Peoria. It's so strange that Joliet is practically a suburb of Chicago and doesn't have a good health food store or a really good fish market for that matter. The butcher I use in Peoria has excellent meats and excellent prices. Better even than grocery stores in Joliet. I took these things for granted when I lived there. A good liquor store is also missing from Joliet. What we really have here are glorified beer stores. If you ask the clerk what wine goes best with fish, he's liable to just stare at you with a look like he never considered that certain wines go well with certain meats. Friar Tuck in Peoria has everything a good liquor store should have.

Saturday is the Annual Argyle Antique Gas Engine Show that we go to each year. Saturday night we have to do fireworks for the village of Colchester. Sunday is just a relaxing day. It's a 4 day weekend for me starting with my bi-weekly massage tomorrow morning. Mmmmmmmmm and ending when I have to come back on Monday and mow the lawn at the Joliet house.

Comments

If ya ever find one that's already "expired" could ya pin it to some styro and give it a good gentle coating with hairspray? (preserves it). I don't believe in killing them but if it's already dead (gotta be fresh otherwise the body breaks up) then I'm ok with it.

I have an Imperial Moth that I put into a shadow box. The first official sighting of them in two Indiana counties! :)

At one of the houses I lived in in NM, ou cats came and went as they pleased through an open window (high altitude=no bugs). One night we came home from work to a dead bloody mouse head on our pillow. The cat's way of saying thank you I guess.